


Nothing Like The Rain

by FayeHunter



Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band)
Genre: M/M, it's pre relationship, its raining and michael needs a ride, michael gets broken up with and ashton comes to help him, theres background mirry if you look for it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-20
Updated: 2021-01-20
Packaged: 2021-03-12 08:40:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,102
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28882590
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FayeHunter/pseuds/FayeHunter
Summary: Michael wishes he had brought an umbrella, but he wasn't expecting to be broken up with today. At least he has Ashton to help him
Relationships: Michael Clifford/Ashton Irwin, Pre-Relationship - Relationship
Kudos: 10





	Nothing Like The Rain

**Author's Note:**

> [Maggie](https://calumsclifford.tumblr.com/)  
> requested “Do you have a ride home?” for mashton but make it angsty. So I wrote some pre-relationship Mashton angst for the prompt because maybe Michael is a bit of an idiot and needs Ashton to come help him.

“Fuck,” Michael mumbles, standing on the doorstep of Harry’s apartment building. Despite his mother’s, Calum’s, and Ashton’s insistence, Michael has never managed to remember to bring an umbrella with him anywhere. It normally wouldn’t be such a problem, but it had looked gloomy when Michael had left his place. Michael hadn’t thought anything of it, considering he was walking to the restaurant to meet Harry and then going to Harry’s from there. Harry had managed to remember an umbrella, which had been fine when they were walking back together, when Michael thought he would be spending the night with Harry. Now it doesn’t matter because Michael and Harry have broken up and Michael is forced to walk back to his apartment, blocks away, in the fucking rain.

“Just my fucking luck,” Micheal continues to rant, hood of his jacket doing very little to help with the drizzle that’s slowly getting stronger and stronger. Michael’s not sure what to do. He wants to talk to someone, talk about how one little disagreement had snowballed into his breakup, but Michael doesn’t know who to call. He could call Calum, but then he’d have to explain to Calum what happened and that would lead to Luke finding out and Michael doesn’t want to deal with any of their pity. He wants to go home and eat ice cream and wallow in his breakup before he has to tell anyone about it.

Michael lets the water drip down onto him, accurately reflecting his mood, walking another block before he gives in, takes his phone out, and dial Ashton. At least talking to Ashton means he won’t be alone on his walk home.

Ashton picks up on the first ring. There’s banging in the background, clearly a sign that Ashton’s making dinner. He can hear music playing the background and what could be the faint sound of the TV.

“Michael, what’s up? I thought you had a date tonight.”

“Things changed. What are you cooking?” Michael asks, trying to divert attention from himself back to Ashton. Ashton hums on the other end of the line.

“Soup. Trying my hand at chicken noodle soup.”

“You say that like it's hard to make.”

“How would you know? I’ve never seen you cook anything Mikey.”

“That’s not true! I made that pasta the one time!”

“Boiling pasta and heating up sauce aren’t cooking,” Ashton chides lightly. Michael tries not to feel a twinge in his heart remembering that Harry was supposed to teach Michael how to cook. It had been one of their date night ideas, that they could cook or bake together. It had been going well until well, _this._

“Hey I resent that. You know Harry tried to teach me how to make pizza.”

“I remember you burning the pizza. But you do make a mean brownie,” Ashton says. Michael can hear his smile through the phone, his easy charm and presence. 

“Maybe I can come over and show you my secret brownie making techniques,” Michael asks. He stops on the corner at a red light, waiting for it to change so he can walk across. The rain has gotten a little harder and Michael is cold. He’s cold and wet and he wants to get home and take a shower and curl up under the covers and cry. Why did he have to live so far away from Harry? Why didn’t he take up Harry’s offer to drive him home? Michael is an idiot.

“Speaking of Harry, what happened to your date night? Not that I don’t appreciate hearing from you, but I am worried. Did something happen?”

Michael sighs. It’s better to bite the bullet now and get it over with.

“Harry and I broke up.”

There’s a long pause on the other end of the line and then Ashton clears his throat, “What?”

“We broke up. Like tonight. I’m walking home now.”

“You’re walking home? But it’s raining. Do you have a ride home?” Ashton says. Michael can hear the inflection in Ashton’s voice, worry and concern bleeding through.

“No. Harry offered, but I didn’t want to spend more time with him in the car. Listening to him apologize,” Michael mumbles again. He crosses the street when the light changes. He can hear the sound of Ashton banging around again through the phone.

“Where are you?”

“I’m not sure? There’s a Starbucks here.”

“Drop me a pin of your location. I’ll come get you and take you back to your place.”

“Ashton, you don’t have to pick me up.”

“I do actually because you’re my friend and it’s raining and I want to come help you.”

“Ashton. No.”

“Michael. Yes.”

“I hate you,” Michael says, stopping under the awning of the Starbucks, glad to be a little drier. He doesn’t want to admit it, but it’s nice knowing that Ashton cares about him and wants to come help him. Ashton brushes it off, insisting that he’ll come get Michael and bring some of the soup with him since it’s almost done anyway and they can heat it up and have some while watching a movie to help distract Michael. Michael gives a begrudging grumble but agrees to it. He decides it’s probably better to wait inside the Starbucks, so he goes inside to wait at a table, ordering a tea to make it less awkward.

The other reason that Michael doesn’t really want Ashton to come get him is that Michael has a crush on Ashton. It’s just a teeny tiny little crush, completely harmless really. It’s just that, whenever Ashton laughs or smiles at Michael, Michael feels something funny in his chest. They’ve been friends for years and Michael thought he outgrew the crush, but clearly he has not. It was one of the sticking points with Harry, just another nail in the coffin of their relationship. Harry always felt like Michael cared about Ashton more, that Harry couldn’t measure up to Michael’s crush on Ashton, on their friendship. It’s not entirely wrong. Michael thinks he would put Ashton first, but Michael would also put Luke or Calum first too. Michael firmly believes in putting his friends first before any relationship because they’re his friends. Harry didn’t see it quite the same way, thinking that Michael’s crush on Ashton was overpowering his other decisions. Ashton would argue that having your friend call while you’re on a date asking if you can take them to the hospital to get stitches because they cut their hand isn’t exactly what Harry’s talking about, but Michael thinks it was mostly an excuse. The romance had fizzled out and they were both just waiting for the other to make the final move. For all purposes, the breakup argument hadn’t even been as bad as Michael’s mind is making it out to be. He’s just angry and cold and wet and bitter.

Ashton calls him 30 minutes later to tell him he’s parked outside. Michael ducks outside, running through what’s now a downpour to Ashton’s car.

“Fuck, you’re soaking wet. You need to learn to bring an umbrella,” Ashton chides as he puts the car into drive, taking them back to Michael’s place.

“Thank you for the advice, I’ll try to remember it the next time my boyfriend breaks up with me and I have to walk home in the rain,” Michael snips back, turning up the heater in the car. Ashton doesn’t say anything, sitting in the silence as the radio plays.

“So, what happened?” Ashton finally asks when they’ve been sitting in the car long enough for his curiosity to win over. Michael groans.

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“I think you should. Might feel better?”

“It’s nothing. We just….grew apart I guess?”

“Michael, you’ve been dating for a year. As of last week, you guys were happy.”

“Well, shit changes,” Michael snaps, crossing his arms and glaring out the window.

“Don’t get huffy with me. I’m just trying to help you.”

“It was you.”

“Sorry?”

“You. We got into a fight about when I took you to the hospital a few weeks ago because of the stitches. It was partly you, partly how I’m always putting you and Calum and Luke before Harry sometimes.”

“What is it about me specifically?”

“What do you mean?”

“You said partly me. Why partly me?”

Michael debates what revealing this information to Ashton will do. He figures nothing, since it’s a well known fact both Calum and Luke had a crush on Ashton when they first met him before falling head over heels for each other. No one had much cared about that information. Michael figures if he gets his crush out in the open, maybe it’ll help him move on.

“I have a crush on you. Or had? I’m not really sure, I don’t think my body knows the difference. Harry picked up on it.”

“Am I the reason you broke up?”

“God no. I think he was just making a poor excuse to end our relationship.”

Ashton hums, staring straight ahead. He’s quiet for a few moments before he finally speaks up.

“Do you still like me?”

“Like, as a crush?” Michael asks, cautious.

“Yeah. As a crush, do you still like me?” Ashton asks, hesitant.

Michael thinks about it. He hasn’t really considered it that much recently. When he met Harry and fell head over heels, he pushed his crush on Ashton aside for a while. He already does so much with Ashton, cooking together and watching movies and just hanging out that he doesn’t think dating would much change their relationship. It would just mean he could kiss Ashton and hold his hand and maybe when he spends the night, he can share Ashton’s bed.

“I mean, I always like you. Sometimes, it’s hard for me to figure out what’s a crush and what’s just me liking you as a friend because we’re so close. Why? Do you like me?” Michael responds, slowly and carefully.

“Sometimes when you brush close to me, my heart flutters and I feel warm inside. If that’s what a crush is, then yes, I have a crush on you,” Ashton says.

Michael’s silent again, pondering what that means. Maybe the hardest part of being such close friends is that it's hard to figure out what's friendship and what’s a crush. The lines are already blurred for them on a regular basis, how would they really know the difference without actually being together. Michael stares out the window, watching as they get closer to his street before he speaks up.

“Guess we just wouldn’t know without really dating. Like really giving it a go and seeing what it means for the two of us. It’s hard to tell the difference in our emotions.”

“You just broke up with Harry.”

“Well, maybe that doesn’t matter. Maybe I just want to go on a date with you and hold your hand and see how it feels. What’s so wrong about that?”

“I don’t want you to compare me to Harry or to what Harry’s said about me. I want your feelings to be real and natural.”

“I never said they weren’t. I’m just not sure,” Michael grumbles. They finish the drive in silence, radio still playing softly in the background as they pull up to Michael’s apartment building. Ashton parks the car, turning off the engine. Michael undoes his seatbelt, making to leave the car.

“Hey,” Ashton says, hand resting on Michael’s as he goes to open the door.

“Yeah?”

“I would like that.”

“Like what?”

“Dating you. I would like to date you.”

“Oh. Like now?”

“Not like now _now_. I mean, once you’ve had time to get over Harry and your breakup. I would like to take you out for a date sometime. When you’re over Harry and I don’t feel like you’re trying to compare the two of us.”

Michael smiles slowly. He feels something warm bubble up in his chest at the thought of going on a date with Ashton, getting to be with him, hold his hand, _kiss him._

“I would like that,” Michael says, turning over his hand to squeeze Ashton’s. Ashton beams at that, open and bright. Michael leans over, pressing a soft kiss to Ashton’s cheek, blushing when Ashton laughs breathlessly.

“Good. I would like it too. But first, you should change and we should have soup,” Ashton says, making to open the car door. Michael nods, making to follow suit. Tonight, he has Ashton and soup and the promise of movies and cuddling. And the promise of something more for the future. _Hope._

**Author's Note:**

> Come find me on [tumblr!](https://pixiegrl.tumblr.com/) Talk to me about Stardust, 5sos, Luke Hemmings, or you can sidetrack me by giving me more fic ideas!


End file.
